NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street's most recent winning streak was cut short Tuesday as investors cashed in on the market's latest gains, ending a solid rally in the technology sector and dragging the broader market lower as well.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 42.49 points to close at 9,027.98. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers led gainers 1,787 to 1,252 on trading volume of 730 million shares.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.89 to 2,034.75 and the S&P 500 index shed 6.32 to 1,181.38.
Despite the market's bearish tone Tuesday, Chris Grisanti, director of research at Spears, Benzak, Salomon & Farrell, said he is optimistic that Wall Street will resume its recent rally soon. (169K WAV) or (169K AIFF)
The bond market headed higher, once again moving in the opposite direction of stocks. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond was up 17/32 of a point in price, for a yield of 5.0 percent.
The dollar eased against the German mark and the Japanese yen.
Deals of the day
In stocks, action concentrated among the day's newsmakers, which included stocks involved in several deals.
In a pure Dow transaction, shares of AT&T (T) rallied 2-1/4 to 67 after the company agreed to buy the networking business of fellow blue-chip IBM (IBM) for $5 billion in cash. Shares of IBM rose 1 to 168-3/16.
The stock of Union Carbide (UK), however, weighed on the Dow, losing 2 to 42 after the company issued a fourth-quarter profit warning.
Sagging financial stocks also helped drag the 30 blue chips into negative territory, with American Express (AXP) shedding 3-3/16 to 97, Citigroup (CCI) losing 9/16 to 48-1/2 and J.P. Morgan (JPM) tumbling 3-1/4 to 106-9/16.
In the day's other deal, American depositary receipts of Esprit Telecom Group (ESPRY) surged 9-1/4, or more than 30 percent, to 39-1/2 on news Global TeleSystems (GTSG) is buying the British company for $675 million in a deal that will create a telecommunications giant with more than $4 billion in market capitalization. Global's stock gained 5-1/8, or more than 12 percent, to 46-7/8.
Elsewhere among the movers, shares of computer-chip powerhouse Intel (INTC) climbed 1-1/8 to 120-1/16 after Morgan Stanley Dean Witter raised its price target for the stock to $150 from $130, along with price targets for other semiconductor stocks.
Many other tech blue chips followed suit in the morning, but headed south in late trading. Dell (DELL) fell 1 to 66-5/8 and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) lost 1-11/16 to 76-1/8.
Microsoft (MSFT) lost 2-3/8 to 131-3/16, succumbing to profit taking after a sharp run-up Monday, following news that South Carolina had dropped out of a broad antitrust lawsuit brought against the software giant by the Justice Department and 20 states.
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers)
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn tech stock report) 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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